Category: Shopping

Trillium Cove has become the place to shop in Townsend, Tn over the years. It’s a place where you can go shop for antiques, grab a bit to eat, and pick up some supplies for your next home improvement project. It’s an all-in-one Townsend destination, especially for us everyday local.

The Appalachian style village is connected by walkways which run between the shops which include everything from a barber shop to an extensive home and garden center. Maybe you just want to stop by and grab a bite to eat, or a coffee… the Picnic Pantry Cafe offers locally roasted coffee, sandwiches, homemade desserts, as well as a long list of premium wines & beer. Open social events are regularly hosted, ranging from art walks, free live music, wine tastings, and seasonal celebrations. Trillium Cove is located on Hwy. 321 and the Townsend foot and bike paths …so whether by car, bicycle, or on foot, we invite you to park free and visit Trillium Cove

Trillium Cove businesses include:

The Blackberry Briar: Unique Antiques, Gifts & Collectibles
The Blackberry Briar is full of unique gifts. From 1700’s antiques to Czech Republic antiques to the latest in Vera Bradley and so much more.

Cabin Treasures: Prize Pickins and Stained Glass
Cabin Treasures provides a wonderful selection of decor and gifts! They also specialize in custom crafted stained glass panels, windows, lamps, and sun catchers abound, all created by the proprietor and artisan, Becky Goodman.

Hassell Creek: Ham, Jam, Jelly & More
Award winning Hassell Creek features a full line of jam, jelly, honey, fruit butter, country ham, coffee, no sugar items and other delicious products. All of the fruit and ingredients in our Hassell Creek products are grown right here in the Smoky Mountain area.

Norris Mountain: The Art, Life and Spirit of Cades Cove
Townsend’s premier art gallery focusing on and about Cades Cove. Your visit to the Cove will be made complete with a fine artistic memento, framed or unframed, that will satisfy the desires of any budget.

Ravenwood Jewelry
Ravenwood Jewelry is a custom jewelry maker that uses sterling silver and natural stones. Ravenwood specializes in wedding jewelry that can be designed by the bride and will add to her very special wedding day.

Townsend Barber Shop
The only barber in Townsend specializing in men’s haircuts.

Trillium Cove Home & Garden
Trillium Cove Home & Garden has everything from annuals to perennials, herbs, vegetables and hanging baskets. Customers will also find a number of decorative items for your garden, home and patio. Great containers and custom potting. Home and garden treasures that are sure to meet your needs.

If you’re looking for some of the best produce in the area, head on over to the Wear’s Valley Farmers Market, 2881 Wears Valley Rd. For years they’ve supplied people with the best variety of fresh peaches, apples, squash, cantaloupe and more in the Smokies. Though if you’re heading out there this time of year, you’re likely looking for a pumpkin, or some good barbeque.

Farmers from across Sevier County have been bring their goods to sell at the Wears Valley Farmers Market for years. Primarily, because they do good business and are located along a highly-trafficed road. The staff are very friendly and helpful and will make sure you get some of the best fruit, honey, or pumpkins they have to offer.

Now, we did mention the barbeque, but let us reiterate, this BBQ is some of the best local pork you’ll find. Many people just pull right up at lunch and grab some to go. But if you want to stay and look around, don’t rush, just pull up to one their picnic tables and take it easy.

In addition to their tomatoes, watermelon and carrots, some vendors also offer jams, jellies, honeys, and even boiled peanuts for purchase. These jarred treats make great gifts for your friends and family, no matter where they live. Now, that’s hardly the extent of what you’ll find at the Wears Valley Farmers Market, they really do have something for every season. Pull off and stay while next time you’re in town, we’re sure you’ll find something good.

Hiking, Climbing, camping, biking, kayaking

Little River Trading Company (LRTC) is one of the best outfitters in the Smokies. And here is just one reason that you need a good outfitter close by:

You have come to the Smokies, ready to spend several days in the mountains, hiking and camping – roughing it. You stop at a hotel for the evening before you start your adventure in the National Park. You are repacking your gear for the hundredth time to make sure you have everything you need. As you are going through the check list you find that you have left one of the sleeping pads at the house… 8 hours away. What do you do?

You pay a visit to the Little River Trading Company in Maryville, TN – right outside of Townsend and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. They will have what you need so that you can start your adventure on time and with the knowledge of knowing that you have bought a quality product from a company that knows their gear.

Little River Trading Company covers almost every outdoor adventure that you can think of. From kayaking to camping, mountain biking to hiking and climbing, they have gear and clothing for anything you have planned. When you walk in the front door of their retail location you will be in one of the best outdoor adventure clothing shops that you will ever find. At the back of the clothing area is their climbing shop and footwear. Next to the clothing is a camping and hiking shop carrying all the gear you might need for a day or a week or a month on the trail. Past that is the Cycology bike shop (opened in 2006), this is the premier mountain bike shop in the Smokies and though you can’t mountain in the Smokies, they good folks at Little River Trading Company can certainly set on the right path to finding trails to bike one.

Here are just some of the Brands that you will find at Little River Trading Company:

Asolo

Bluewater

Birkenstock

Camelback

Chaco

Columbia River Knife and Tool

Croakies

Five Fingers

Kavu

Kelty

Leki

Life is Good

Marmot

Merrell

Mountain Hardwear

Mountainsmith

National Geographic

Ocean Kayak

Old Town

Patagonia

Teva

Timbuk2

The North Face

Vasque

Here is the best reason to go to Little River Trading Company: the staff. The guys and gals at LRTC use the gear that they sale. They are outdoor enthusiasts. They hike, they climb, they mountain bike. You are not going to big box store to buy something from someone that has never spent even on night outdoors, you are buying from someone that spends their free time enjoying those outdoor activities for which they sale the gear. They are experts and they can tell you what you actually need when you are backcountry camping or climbing because they have already been there and done that.

Spring in Townsend, Tn might just be the perfect time to be in the Smokies for some, though you’re sure to hear the exact opposite from those fall foliage lovers, but that’s neither here nor there. In actuality, both seasons offer ample opportunities geared at getting visitors back to nature – something Townsend excels at, no matter the season. From popular festivals to numerous hikes and bicycle tours around the Smokies and Cades Cove, we’ve compiled a list of Spring “to-do’s” in Townsend. Be prepared to spend a few days if you plan on getting to everything, or just use it as a daily reminder if you plan on coming back a few time this spring.

Strap on your hiking boots and pack something warm just in case as the first jaunt on the Townsend Spring Itinerary gets you off the beaten path and onto the trails of the Smoky Mountains –

Take one of the numerous wildflower walks and hikes offfered in the Smoky Mountains; rent a bike from the Cades Cove Campground store and bike the Cades Cove Loop Road or rent from one of the many locales in town and ride the Townsend bike path. One of the most popular day hikes in the area is the Abrams Falls hike by way of Cades Cove – an easy 5-miler that will cool you off halfway through with a quick dip in the pool below Abrams Falls. Definitely worth the hike.

Our next itinerary suggestion lets the traveler enjoy the best of what Townsend and the Smokies has to offer – Cades Cove –

Beat the crowds and tour the Cades Cove loop in morning. Take in an evening tour if you’re interested in the Cove’s wildlife and history. Guided tours are now available through Cades Cove Heritage Tours. Be sure to stop by the Cades Cove Campground Store for some of their fabulous ice cream.

So, you’re ready to get back and sample some of Townsend’s offerings, etc? Not only does Townsend offer a handful of great locally-themed stores, there are also a number of historical stops around town to introduce visitors to the history of Townsend and the Smoky Mountains.

Check out the arts and crafts of Townsend at some of its many galleries and craft boutiques. From Apple Valley Farms to Nawger Nob to Southern Fried Gallery, Townsend is ripe with local artistic flavor. During the spring there are numerous festivals including the Townsend Spring Festival and Old Timers Day, as well as the Smoky Mountain Pottery Festival. For you history buffs, check out the Little River Railroad Company. It was there that the region got its start as loggers roamed the area before it was designated part of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Did you miss anything while you were exploring? Use your final day to just mill around town, or ask the locals what some of their favorite haunts are –

Many people come to Townsend to fish. If so, stop by an Little River Outfitters and find out where the fishing is best to be had and pick up some of the latest gear too, eat a great meal at a distinctive local Townsend restaurant, or tour a Tennessee farm. Whatever it is, you’re sure to be back in town in no time. Townsend sort of has that effect on people – they drive through just looking for a way to get to the national park and end up staying for a few days. There’s sure to be even more to add to your list next time you’re in town, hopefully this is a good start.

Fly fishing in the Smoky Mountains is a outdoor sport loved by many who venture to the national park every year. For weekend anglers and serious fly tiers alike, the one place you should be sure to stop before fishing in any mountain stream is Little River Outfitters Townsend TN! Their staff has a wealth of knowledge on anything that has to do with l0cal fishing, especially around the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and they carry all the gear you might need to successfully reel in that prized trout while you’re here.

Since 1994, Little River Outfitters Townsend TN has catered to the Great Smoky Mountain fly fisher. The Smoky Mountains of East Tennessee and Western North Carolina are crisscrossed with numerous rivers and streams stretching thousands of miles across each state. Little River is a family owned fly shop and fly tying school that has become a destination for Smoky Mountain fly fishers looking to catch the Smokies’ wild rainbow, brown and brook trout. Little River staff can help the saltwater fishermen as well. They’re essentially the strength of the shop. The employees love to fly fish and have the experience to back up their recommendations.

Little River Outfitters started teaching fly fishing and fly tying classes in the mid ’90s. As far as fly fishing instruction goes, in those days it was few and far between. Today, Little River Outfitters has its own classroom devoted to instruction and sponsors events like Troutfest which occur every spring in Townsend. For the serious fly fishermen, or woman, Troutfest is the event of the year as anything and everything fly fishing can be seen, heard, and bought at Troutfest. By the way, fly tying classes at Little River are offered two weekends each month from May through October.

In all, over 800 miles of fishable trout streams make up the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. A Tennessee or North Carolina fishing license is all you need to cast your line in any of them. The national park’s mountain streams are filled with populations of rainbow trout, brook trout and brown trout. Though brook trout are catch and release only. Just outside the park you can find excellent smallmouth bass fishing in the rivers and streams running out of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Additionally, the Tennessee River watershed provides lakes, tailwaters, freestone mountain streams and lowland rivers with some of the finest fly fishing for brook trout, brown trout, rainbow trout, smallmouth bass, largemouth bass, stripers and panfish found anywhere. Still, Townsend, Tennessee is the perfect base camp for a fly fishing vacation. Little River Outfitters is there to help meet your fly fishing needs along the way.

Townsend not only takes the moniker of the “Peaceful Side of the Smokies”, but it could soon lay claim to another as the “Artistic Side of the Smokies” as well. Over the years Townsend has become a haven for local artists and crafters. The town’s Smoky Mountain setting provides inspiration unlike any place any place in the country with its majestic views and picturesque seasons.

Townsend not only takes the moniker of the “Peaceful Side of the Smokies”, but it could soon lay claim to another as the “Artistic Side of the Smokies” as well. Over the years Townsend has become a haven for local artists and crafters. The town’s Smoky Mountain setting provides inspiration unlike any place any place in the country with its majestic views and picturesque seasons.

Though a relatively quiet, but growing area of the Smokies, Townsend is home to a number of businesses catering to the Great Smoky Mountain visitor looking for that unique print or sculpture that reflects the region of its origin. For example, in Townsend you’ll find a variety of craft and specialty shops offering visitors everything from area art to walking sticks. Townsend’s Little River is another inspirational setting that runs right through town fostering a number of pieces that reflect the beauty of the Smokies. Townsend’s a great place to find that one piece that is right for you.